Licensing authority offers Alva doctor favorable sentence

• Fined Dr. Aldo Anthony Battiste of Oklahoma City $12,000 and gave him five years of probation for substance abuse. Board records show Battiste made false statements when reapplying for his medical license by stating he had not used alcohol.

• Accepted the surrender of Becky Dianne Diercks’ respiratory care practitioner license. Diercks, of Woodward, was suspended indefinitely in 2007 for substance abuse. Her license was later reinstated, but she remained on probation. Board records state she tested positive for a controlled substance in January and in August missed a meeting monitoring her probation.

• Suspended the license of Kimberly Anne Nelson of Moore. Nelson, a physical therapist assistant, will remain on one year of probation after the suspension. Board records state she submitted false records to her employer to be sent to Medicare. Nelson claimed to have treated the patient when she hadn’t.

• Fined Dr. Mark Winchester and put him on probation for five years. Winchester, of Blanchard, received inpatient substance abuse treatment in 1991 and 1992, according to licensure board records. He relapsed in 1993 and obtained controlled drugs by forging prescriptions. He agreed to be monitored through the Oklahoma Health Professionals Recovery Program, records show. Winchester began using Lortab and Oxcycodone in 2006. Records state he went into treatment again in 2008. On his application for license renewal he denied using drugs, but he later admitted he had been using them.